I am very chilly, and also kind of anxious about nothing in particular. I have no idea how much the former may be contributing to the latter, but I’ll bet the effect is not zero, especially given that the physical effects of cold match up pretty neatly to those of fear.

I was perfectly comfortable coming in this morning–in fact, with my jacket zipped I was a tiny bit warmer than I might have liked. But now I’m cold, despite wearing warm clothes. I think it may be time to go get some hot water to drink.

The temperature at which I really need gloves for biking in the morning is somewhere in the mid to upper 40s; this has been experimentally confirmed this week with temps on both sides of the line. This afternoon it’s nice enough to not even need my jacket for going home, though.

Contrary to popular belief, it does indeed snow here–in fact, it does so every winter. Therefore, there is no need to act as if you’ve never seen frozen water before the instant a flake hits the pavement. By all means, take appropriate precautions; begin your braking a few feet sooner and moderate your speed if the road conditions appear to warrant it. Please note, however, that the appropriate precautions rarely include travelling at 5 miles an hour on a road that is merely wet, and that some people inexplicably fail to appreciate your zealous attention to making sure that they cannot endanger themselves by passing you in an area in which it is legal to do so. If the problem is that your eyesight is so impaired by falling snowflakes that you cannot make out the lines indicating lanes, perhaps you may wish to refrain from driving under such conditions.

Mum’s planning to buy me a bicycle for Christmas, which is great and I’m highly in favor of it. But given that gas is $3 a gallon as of 11 pm yesterday, and I’d really like to lose some weight, I rather wish she’d just buy the darn thing now. I’m perfectly willing to have it be early and not get a big present in December; I am not going to sulk.

Plus, it’ll be cold in December, which means I won’t really get started till spring. Sigh.